2005, Justin Jennings, Kathy L. Antrobus, Sam J. Atencio, Erin ...
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298 F current anthropology Volume 46, Number 2, April <strong>2005</strong><br />
which it could be used at feasts. Longer shelf life allows<br />
these beverages to be curated and exchanged over greater<br />
distances and, as we stressed, facilitated staggered production<br />
and centralization. The commentators further<br />
point out that this also helped to sever the link between<br />
producers and consumers and allowed these drinks to<br />
rise to the level of haute cuisine. These additional points<br />
reinforce how changes in production chains, coupled<br />
with technological and cultural innovations, can lead to<br />
substantial changes in political economy. If rice beer had<br />
remained unpasteurized, what would have been the implications<br />
for the Shang Dynasty? What if the Incas and<br />
the earlier civilizations of Peru had found a way to keep<br />
corn beer fresh for years?<br />
McGovern and <strong>Sam</strong>uel note possible errors in the article<br />
that should be addressed. McGovern argues that<br />
wine yeast (S. cerevisiae) is not airborne. It is true that<br />
S. cerevisiae spores do not generally become airborne,<br />
being contained in an asci that does not rupture at maturity.<br />
We never said otherwise. What we said was that<br />
pulque was either fermented using a starter containing<br />
wine yeast or left open to airborne yeasts. During this<br />
open fermentation process, there are many different varieties<br />
of airborne bacteria, yeasts, and other microorganisms<br />
that can contribute to fermentation (Sanchez-<br />
Marroquin and Hope 1953). McGovern also suggests that<br />
the term qu is more widely used than jiu ou to refer to<br />
the fermentation agent used to make rice beer in China.<br />
A great many fermentation agents were used, and these<br />
terms changed over time. Jiu ou was one of these terms<br />
(Xu and Bao 1999), but I agree with McGovern that the<br />
more common term chhü (or qu) is the one that we<br />
should have used (Huang 2000:117).<br />
<strong>Sam</strong>uel mentions possible errors in our definition of<br />
hydrolysis, our description of the interaction of starches<br />
and water at low temperatures, and our definition of<br />
malt. I fail to see any error in the first two, and the third<br />
claim is based on what I feel is an overly narrow definition<br />
of malt. Hydrolysis is the breakdown of organic<br />
materials through the use of water. Starch is a homopolysaccharide<br />
of D-glucose units joined together by an<br />
a1,4-glycosidic bond. Hydrolysis breaks the bonds in the<br />
long glucose chains that form starches. For hydrolysis to<br />
occur, starch grains must come into contact with water<br />
and the enzymes that can break down the bonds. Starch<br />
grains are often resistant to penetration by water at room<br />
temperatures because the attraction of hydrogen bonds<br />
makes them wind tightly together. Heat weakens these<br />
bonds (Goyal 1996). We chose not to go into detail, but<br />
our general account of the biochemistry of alcohol production<br />
was accurate and well referenced.<br />
<strong>Sam</strong>uel is correct in faulting our implied definition of<br />
malt within the traditional schema of the brewing of beer<br />
made from wheat, oats, and barley, in which malt is<br />
created through the germination of seed grains. We used<br />
the term “malt” to designate any starchy substance that<br />
has been introduced to enzymes capable of breaking<br />
down starches into more simple sugars. This definition<br />
of malt is more inclusive of cross-cultural brewing practices,<br />
and I feel that we made clear how we were using<br />
the term. I would welcome a discussion with <strong>Sam</strong>uel on<br />
these issues and possible others.<br />
The commentators agree on the importance of linking<br />
food production to feasting in the archaeological record<br />
and have offered a number of fruitful avenues for further<br />
inquiry. Gastropolitics is immensely important, and we<br />
must remember that it began long before the first toasts<br />
were made. By tracing the operational chains that produced<br />
the food and drinks consumed at events, we may<br />
be better able to understand the pressures that hosts<br />
faced and the means by which they overcame them.<br />
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